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Clone schließt das Label

Closure of the Clone record label

After running the label since 1993/ 94 we recently noticed that we were going to repeat ourselves. We started as a label influenced by the first wave of techno and house labels who were just releasing music for the sake of good and personal music (we cloned what they did… by just having fun and release music which we enjoyed ourselves). We have started very immature and without having an idea in mind that we we’re going to make this a business…

At that moment we were exploring the field of minimalish techno and acid. Then our attention slowly moved to electro, post Detroit techno and the new sonic territories with modern electronica. We’ve had the return of disco in the late 90’s and the nu-disco thing and a fusi on of styles in the early ’00. Simultaneously we’ve released dark electro techno, campy nu-disco ,advanced modern electronica and personal favorites in the rebound.

Artists developed into different directions and there is not much we haven’t touched in our field… from very ‚obscure‘ records to ‚underground‘ dance floor hits that got big festival crowds and balearic holiday ravers moving. So what is there left to do? Basically there is no challenge at this moment… we can continue releasing everything we like (from people we like) without a marketing strategy and without a potential buyers in mind as we used to do… but we already did so for many years.

At this moment we don’t understand the popularity of many artists and releases….or… actually we do!. We do, to a certain level, because we’ve tried many things when we just started our journey into music when we were teenagers and when we started the label +/- 15 years ago! By now we do understand the tricks and formulas of dance music and the different users. However using these tricks and formulas just to ensure maximum effect would be betrayal to our own musical ethics because our goal with Clone records is to entertain ourself with the music we release (and to be clear… with the music…and not the sideeffects). Somehow we feel we’ve had an almost complete life cycle of personal evolution in dance music and thats also how we developed the label into a versatile label which is releasing different styles of dance music for different purposes. Its a difficult decision because the label is doing very well and we get warm reactions from the strangest places in this world and we could do this for another 10 years!

But in order to remain passioned about what we do, we feel we should not continue the label as it is.. so we won’t.

but no worries.. there will be new things coming, but its just not exactly clear what, how (and when). More news on th at in a few weeks time!

There will be to two remaining releases (scheduled for Februari.) C#55 – I-f ft Fred Ventura/ Ajello – I cut my heart out (Craig Richards edit)/ I’m ready C#56 – Marco Bernardi – Mystery Of Nazerus (plus a limited Marcus Bernardi rmx 12″) then it will be quiet on the label…

oh.. and Clone Clasic Cuts still has some releases lined up (incl a Unit Moebius CD release), so for now we don’t know what will happen with that.. but most likely we will continue with the Classic Cuts Series.

In a remarkable turn of face, Clone have announced that they will continue to release new music on six freshly created sub-labels.

After announcing just a few months ago that Clone were to close up shop as a record label, the Dutch imprint has sent out an e-mail letting its fans know that that is no longer the case. Instead of releasing tracks under the generic Clone name, Serge and his crew have decided to create a handful of specialist sub-labels as a way of targeting their new material to its intended audience. Speaking via e-mail, Serge outlines one of the reasons behind the change, explaining that „the specialized series will give us the opportunity to go deeper into certain styles and it will make it easier to work with new talented producers who are at a different stage in their career and musical development as some of the regular artists on Clone.“ Looking at their forthcoming releases, it’s safe to say that there’ll be a lot of fresh blood being pumped through the label’s veins this year.

The first new imprint goes by the name of Clone Loft Supreme, and will feature the more traditional house and disco side of the label, with new material coming from Detroit house producer Reggie Dokes and Italo-obsessives Elitechnique. The Clone West Coast series will house the material of homegrown talent from the The Hague area, whilst Clone Aqualong deals with Drexciyan electro, housing Heinrich Muller (AKA Drexciya’s Gerald Donald) and Victoria Lukas‘ new Zerkalo collaboration for its first two releases. Simple club anthems will find their way onto the imaginatively titled Clone Club series, whilst both house and techno fans will have something to shout about with the Clone Jack For Daze and Clone Bassment series respectively. The former will concentrate on updating the classic Chicago house sound („one of the main inspirations of the Clone crew,“ according to Serge), whilst the latter will see the label move into techno territory, featuring the first vinyl release from Mike Dehnert outside of his own Fachwerk label as well as a four-track outing from A Made Up Sound (AKA 2562).